This great Teams feature is now available with all Microsoft and Office 365 licenses

Microosft Teams iOS and Surface
Microosft Teams iOS and Surface (Image credit: Windows Central)

What you need to know

  • Microsoft is working on several updates to Teams meetings recordings.
  • All new Teams meetings recordings will be saved to OneDrive and SharePoint with an incremental rollout starting on August 16, 2021.
  • Teams Live Transcriptions with speaker attribution are now available through all Office and Microsoft 365 licenses.

Microsoft announced several improvements that are on the way for Teams meeting recordings. Starting yesterday, August 4, 2021, Teams live transcriptions with speaker attribution are available through all Office and Microsoft 365 licenses. Starting later this month, live transcriptions will automatically be created whenever anyone records a meeting from a desktop client.

Additionally, an incremental rollout will begin on August 16, 2021 to have all meeting recordings saved to OneDrive and SharePoint.

Here's what's new regarding generating live transcriptions in Teams:

  • Available today: Teams Live Transcription with speaker attribution has been expanded to all Office and Microsoft 365 license types.
  • Rolling out by August: Live transcription will always be generated when a user clicks 'Start recording' on desktop client.
  • Rolling out by August: Live transcription will be available across all meeting types, including channel meetings and ad-hoc meetings.
  • Rolling out by August: Live transcription and live captions will be available for 15 additional spoken languages.

Microsoft also outlines changes to downloading and editing a transcript file in Teams:

  • Available today: Users can download the transcript file from the Teams meeting 'Transcripts' tab, where users can edit and share the file manually with others.
  • Under development: Improvements to the above flow by allowing users to download the transcript file from the video player itself, make changes locally, and upload the file to the player so that the changes are reflected in the closed captions.
  • Other immediate options to edit transcripts within the video player: users can download recordings from ODSP and upload to Classic Stream, where a transcript will be generated on-demand and users can edit the transcript within the video itself.
  • If you have questions about this or other features, please contact support through your M365 Admin Center or your account manager.

Starting yesterday, the option to block downloads for non-channel meeting recordings is on by default. Admins can also block downloads for channel meeting recordings now.

Sean Endicott
News Writer and apps editor

Sean Endicott is a tech journalist at Windows Central, specializing in Windows, Microsoft software, AI, and PCs. He's covered major launches, from Windows 10 and 11 to the rise of AI tools like ChatGPT. Sean's journey began with the Lumia 740, leading to strong ties with app developers. Outside writing, he coaches American football, utilizing Microsoft services to manage his team. He studied broadcast journalism at Nottingham Trent University and is active on X @SeanEndicott_ and Threads @sean_endicott_.